


The Heart Of The Matter

by Eternal Scribe (Shadowcat)



Category: Bones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-14 22:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowcat/pseuds/Eternal%20Scribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A relaxing road trip across county turns out nothing like Angela and Brennan expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Heart Of The Matter

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the The_Yo_Yo Small Fandom Big Bang at LJ in 2008 and refers to the Season Three finale _The Pain In The Heart_.

She was startled out of her concentration on the screen in front of her by the large road atlas dropped on her desk.

"Road trip!"

The voice belonged to her best friend, Angela Montenegro, and Dr. Temperance Brennan lifted an eyebrow as she looked up at her.

"Excuse me?" She was a little confused and trying to figure out how a road trip was important right now.

"Road trip. As in, you and I are taking one," Angela responded. "We'll leave from D.C. and start driving West, perhaps heading to New Mexico and Arizona and meeting up with Dhani and her brother, Ben."

"Sheriff Ben Dawes?” Tempe asked. "I thought you were never going out there again."

"I said I was never going there for the three week retreat or staying in the house I shared with Kirk. Besides, it's been two years, and I think it's time I saw Dhani again. We've e-mailed and talked on the phone, but it isn't the same."

"What does this have to do with me?"

Angela sat down in the chair across from Tempe. "We need a vacation, Brennan. We need to get away from D.C. and all of the stuff that happened with Gormogon and with Zack."

"I don't need a break."

"Yes you do, sweetie. Zack was your grad student, your colleague and our very good friend. No one is perfectly all right after something like that."

"I'm doing just fine."

"And you display being just fine by refusing to even go near the part of the lab that used to be his domain,” Angela said with a raised eyebrow. "It's okay to have a lot of mixed emotions about all of this, Brennan. It's completely normal, you know."

Tempe sighed. "Emotions have nothing to do with it, Ang."

"They have everything to do with this. You're hurt that he betrayed all of us."

"He said he wanted me to be proud of him," she said quietly, looking at the notes she was writing.

"Excuse me?"

"In the hospital, before everyone showed up and he was taken into custody. He said he had done it to make me proud of him."

"No. No, Brennan, you are not allowed to feel guilty for what he did. Zack is a big boy and he made his own decisions. You are not responsible for him becoming a killer or deciding that working for Gormogon was a good idea."

Tempe looked up at her. "Was I too hard on him? Did I not give him enough encouragement in his pursuit of scientific knowledge?"

"Oh, sweetie. You did all of that and more. I don't know why he did everything that he was involved with, but it certainly wasn't because of anything that you did or didn't do. Something just... something just went wrong in his head and he was susceptible to manipulation by Gormogon."

"But Zack has one of the most logical and gifted minds I have ever worked with." 

"Scientifically brilliant doesn't equate to being street smart, sweetie. Zack is a very brilliant scientist, but a strong personality he is not.”

Tempe sighed and shook her head. "I keep thinking that I should have been able to tell, that I should have noticed that something was wrong. He was my grad student for four years before he received his doctorate, Angela. I worked in close proximity with him before and after that. I should have known."

"You're not a psychic or a god, sweetie. Jack worked very close with Zack all the time too. Do you blame him for not being aware that Zack was secretly the sidekick to a psycho?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why do you think we're going to allow you to blame yourself?"

Tempe knew that this argument wasn't going to get her anywhere right now. "I don't understand why you think driving cross-country is going to help."

"Because, change of scenery always helps when something this deeply emotionally traumatic has happened. We need to distance ourselves from the site of the trauma so that we can begin the healing process."

"I hate psychology."

"I know, sweetie. However, we're doing this. We're leaving tomorrow and you're going to enjoy it."

"What does Cam say?"

"Cam agrees that it will do us both some good."

"Somehow I don't believe Hodgins is going to be happy about his fiancee disappearing on a cross-country road trip after everything that has happened."

"Jack understands that I sometimes need to do things like this to clear my head."

"So who all is going on this thing?"

"Not a thing, sweetie. It's a road trip, the symbol of bonding throughout time and civilization."

"I don't think that's anthropologically correct. The Ancient Sumerians --"

Angela rolled her eyes. "Just go with it, Brennan. Fun doesn't always need a scientific explanation."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Us."

"Us?"

"Yep," Angela nodded. "This trip is just going to be you and me. Two young and carefree women driving cross-country and playing tourist along the way."

"You've already planned out an itinerary?"

"No, sweetie. You don't plan out itineraries or stops for something like this. You just go and be spontaneous."

"Booth says that I don't know how to be spontaneous, that I over-analyze it too much."

Angela grinned at her. "Good thing he's not invited on this trip, then, isn't it?"

She knew when she was in a corner with her best friend. When Angela got that look in her eyes and started having an answer for everything she brought up… well, it was just easier to agree. 

"When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning. Bright and early."

"I hope that I don't regret this."

"It's a road trip, Brennan, not an investigation and not one of your press conferences or book signings. It's pure fun, so what could possibly go wrong?"

"Statistically --"

"No. No statistics. Just fun."

Tempe sighed. "Fine. I'll call Booth to let him know where I'll be."

Angela shook her head. "Cam said that she'd take care of it after we were gone."

"Cam said that? You were making plans for me behind my back?"

"Of course. We know you."

Tempe shook her head. She really wasn't sure about the wisdom of this plan, but she knew that look in Angela's eyes. Once she had that look, there was no dissuading her.

"Looks like we're going out West, then."

***

The Jeep turned down the road and Tempe was looking around at the scenery as Angela drove. She had been confused a little when Angela had shown up at her apartment in a borrowed Jeep, courtesy of Hodgins, who wanted to make sure they had a reliable vehicle on their cross country road trip. "Where are we?" 

"Heading into Leonardtown and the first stop on our tour," Angela informed her.

"We're not even out of the D.C. area, yet, Ang. How could this be a stop?"

"Sweetie, you have a great deal to learn about taking a road trip. Any place we decide to stop becomes a place on our trip."

"Okay, but why here?"

"Because we're going to visit the cursed boulder of Moll Dyer."

"Curses aren't real," she replied automatically, and then gave a puzzled look. "Who?"

"Moll Dyer. There's a local legend that says that says she was a noblewoman who came to the Maryland colony alone to escape a mysterious past. She then settled in a cottage outside of what was then Seymortown. Her isolated way of living and shadowed past, along with her reputation as an herbal healer, drew suspicion among the locals, who labeled her as a witch. They began blaming all misfortunes and hardships in the town on this _witch_." She gave her a grin. “And that’s just the history I was able to gather up and study. There have been a lot of stories about Moll and who she was. There’s one story that said she was a divorced woman who fled here from England to get away from gossip and her controlling ex-husband.”

"What happened to her?"

Angela parked the jeep in front of a open area and hopped out. After Tempe joined her, she started walking. "Well, it's said that the winter of 1697 was harsh. Food was scarce and many people died. The townspeople decided that Moll Dyer had cursed the town, and after an epidemic swept through the area, killing many locals, a vigilante group of townsfolk decided to get rid of her. They descended on her cottage in the middle of the coldest night of the winter and set it on fire. Moll Dyer fled into the nearby woods. Exhausted and freezing, she knelt down near a large rock, placed one hand on it and raised her other hand to call down a curse upon the land and her persecutors."

"She couldn't really have done that, you know. No matter what religion you believe in or what aspects of metaphysical powers you think exist, you can't really curse people. Behaviorally, people can be convinced to believe in curses and cause things to happen to themselves because their fear is so great. Besides, if she was really exhausted and freezing, the last thing she would be able to do is even think of cursing anyone. She would be lucky if she could speak much at all."

Angela rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "It's a local legend, sweetie. Just go with the story for a moment. Anyway, she was found frozen to death days later by a boy who was searching for cattle. When her body was removed, her frozen hand and knee left permanent impressions in the rock as an everlasting reminder of the poor reclusive woman’s fate and curse."

"That isn't possible, Angela. I mean, the human body is not capable of generating enough pressure to leave a hand print -- or any kind of print -- in solid rock. Ask Hodgins, he'll tell you the same thing."

"Anyway," Angela continued as they walked, "the boulder was found years later and moved to the St. Mary's County Historical Society building." She stopped in an open area. "Supposedly, this is the sight where her hut was burned down over 300 years ago."

"But there's nothing here but grass and trees."

"Close your eyes for a minute, sweetie, and try to imagine what it was like for her back then. They stories say that people can feel her ghost around here."

"There are no such things as ghosts, Ang."

"Just close your eyes and tell me what you feel."

"Like an idiot."

"Brennan!" 

Tempe sighed and closed her eyes gain. "The breeze... the heat... the tree branches moving with the wind."

Angela shook her head. "Come on. Let's head out again. One of these days, sweetie, you're going to be in a situation where belief in something is going to be what helps you out instead of logic."

***

The next day, Tempe was looking up at the building that Angela was talking about with some confusion. To her, it just looked like a building. Granted, the architecture was impressive, but she couldn't understand why her friend was so excited about this place.

"I still don't see why it was so important that we come here, Ang."

"Because, sweetie. This place is full of history and stories."

"But, it's just a mansion," Tempe pointed out "A very large and impressive mansion that we had to drive through wrought iron gates to get to-- which shows that the owners display quite a great deal of extreme paranoid behavior."

"This place has seen a great many things, Brennan. It was the birthplace of a great deal of musical history, and then the King of Rock and Roll died here."

"There is no such thing as the King of Rock and Roll, Ang. Types of music don't belong to a specific person."

Angela didn't give in to the urge to facepalm. "It's an expression of reverence, sweetie. Elvis was given that title as a symbol of respect and appreciation for everything he did for music during his life. Graceland houses a lot of the history of rock and roll music." She was warming up to the subject. "Graceland was where he felt at home and spent time with his family and created some very wonderful songs and was a creative artist."

Brennan shook her head, frowning as she looked up at the building. "Didn't Elvis Presley die of a drug overdose?"

"That's one story. There are other stories that say he was killed by a rival, or that he faked his own death."

"Why would he fake his death in such manner? Anyone who tries faking their deaths usually get found out in a short amount of time -- and these are people who don't fake something like a drug overdose – which from what I understand was the official cause of his death? Something like that undermines whatever fame he would have managed to gain and it would diminish the importance he thought he held in the music world."

"He was larger than life and some musicians looked up to him like he was a god; he rarely got any privacy. Therefore, his sudden death sparked controversy."

"He died in a toilet, Ang. He died in a bathroom from a drug overdose. How is that legendary behavior?"

"That's not the point, sweetie. He's still a legend. It doesn't matter how he died, only that he died -- or faked his own death." 

“I’m still not sure I get what the point is to us coming to visit the gravesite and home of someone that died like this or why it’s important.”

“It’s important because that is part of the story, sweetie. It’s something that some people feel is an important part of the history of the area.”

Angela smiled. It was times like this that she really enjoyed being with Brennan. She liked the times when they were away from things and just able to discuss the world around them -- a world that her best friend didn't have a lot of experience with. It was one of the reasons she had insisted on a road trip. She thought they needed time to get out of the lab and just be themselves. 

"I still don't see why he holds such status if he was doing drugs and died from an overdose. If his body was found and buried, then there is no way he could still be alive after all of this time, no matter what his believers think. He's not a god or anything like that. He's just a man."

She shook her head. "Because his music moved people, Brennan. He became a legend in their eyes because of the emotional responses his music provoked. He was the first real rock and roll star. He was teenage rebellion in tight leather pants. He was versatile in his music and uninhibited in his performances. He pushed the boundaries and people loved him for it. When he died, a lot of people were depressed and needed to believe he had cheated and faked his death to get away from the sadness and pressure in his life."

"But it's not logical."

"There are lots of things is this world that are not logical, sweetie. Most legends and myths have no logic attached to them at all." She grinned. "That's what makes them so much fun." She tilted her head. "Come on, sweetie. Let's head up to the meditation gardens."

"Why? What's there?"

"Where he's supposed to have been buried after someone tried to steal his body."

"Someone tried to steal his body?"

"Yeah. It happens a lot when famous people die."

"Proof once again that humans are not legendary beings."

"C'mon," Angela said with a grin as they started on the tour.

***

She had only been in New Orleans a few times, but she had never spent any time in anything like the hotel Angela had checked them into. The Royal Sonesta in the French Quarter reminded her of pictures of houses that were more opulent than practical. She was a little curious as to why they were staying here for a few days when there were other, more practical places they could stay if Angela wanted to hang out in the city and shop for a few days. 

"The Grateful Dead," Angela said as she walked into the room.

"What?"

"We're staying here because this is one of the places that the Grateful Dead stayed during their tour in 1970." 

"This is important why?"

Angela gave her a look and Tempe sighed as she realized she was going to be getting another explanation on pop culture from her best friend.

"The Grateful Dead was and still is a very popular musical sensation -- even though they're really not a match for my dad's group. Anyway, even though the popular frontman died, the band still had a popular following. I followed their tours a couple of times and it was fun."

"And this explains the reason we're staying here... how?" 

“I think you’ve been spending to much time with Booth,” Angela said with a raised eyebrow. "Because your best friend is a pop culture fan and a former Deadhead and I thought staying here would be fun and inspiring."

"Deadhead?"

That got a small laugh. "People who followed the Grateful Dead from show to show to show were called Deadheads."

"Willingly?" 

"Yes, willingly. It made them feel like they were a part of the overall experience and it was a tribute to the musical group they loved."

"As I have said before, fringe sub-cultures can be a little strange and creepy with their irrational, fanatic behavior."

"So can some scientists, sweetie." 

***

"Let me guess," Tempe said, shaking her head as they walked through the auditorium in Texas. "Someone else that I have no knowledge of slept here once?" 

Angela shook her head. "Not exactly. Jones Hall was built on the site of the former City Auditorium."

"That makes it something important to you?"

"No, what happened in the original building is what was important. Johnny Ace accidentally killed himself."

"Accidentally?"

"He was playing Russian Roulette backstage on Christmas day in 1954."

"Who was he?" Tempe shook her head. “And how can Russian Roulette be classified as and accidental death?”

"He was a young rhythm and blues singer who was on his way to becoming a big star before he did something stupid that ended his life way too young. He was only twenty-five when he died."

"A lot of people do stupid things that result in their death, Ang."

"I know. It's just so sad how many entertainers meet untimely ends like that."

"That's what tends to happen. Some people get so famous that they think that they're invincible. The problem is, they forget that they are all too human. They try to do more and more things that no human being is meant to do -- or they make stupid decisions like playing with guns and hurting themselves. On the other hand, some people get famous and people get jealous of them and want them to suffer harm." She frowned. “I think I’ve been talking to Sweets too much, I’m starting to sound like him.”

"Not to mention the stalkers and the people who think that by killing the famous person, the fame will somehow transfer to them." Angela smirked. “That did sound pretty psychological for you, Brennan.”

"The point is, that it’s true in a lot of primitive societies -- and not so primitive ones. Remember a few years ago when Booth and I were in Washington investigating the cannibal murders? That doctor that killed and ate parts of those people thought that by ingesting their flesh, he'd gain powers of strength and compassion." She shrugged. "Primitive societies also believed that killing their enemies would cause them to gain whatever power and prestige that they had maintained."

"See, sometimes the logical scientists are not all that different from the temperamental artists and performers." 

"I think that is one of the scariest things you have ever said to me, Angela."

"I only speak the truth, sweetie." She smiled sadly. "Let's get out of here. We can probably make Santa Fe by tomorrow afternoon if we find a nice hotel to sleep in for the night."

***

They had been driving for awhile when Angela pulled into a parking lot in front of yet another adobe building in Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, her face lit up when she saw the sign on the marquee display outside.

"Oh this is great!" Her voice was excited.

"Angela? What's going on? Why are you so excited?" She gave her a look. "Is this another place full of pop culture history that you want to tell me about?"

"No," she said, her eyes full of excitement. "Even better."

Tempe looked at her. "Well?"

She grinned and pointed at the sign. "My dad is playing here tonight."

Sure enough, the sign outside of the Coyote Cafe was sporting the name of Billy Gibbons. She could understand Angela's excitement. She didn't see her dad a lot between their two careers, but her best friend was very close with her father.

"So it looks like we have an impromptu concert attendance on our road trip schedule," she said with a smile. "I'd be interested in seeing your father perform."

Angela gave her a look. "Really? You wouldn't mind?"

"You haven't seen him in awhile, Angela. This is a great opportunity to spend some time with him. He's your father."

The smile on Angela's face got even brighter. "Thank you, sweetie. This means a lot."

In retrospect, Tempe could remember exactly when their trip turned down a different path than either woman had planned. 

It was an enjoyable night at the Coyote Cafe. Angela's father was a great performer, and at one point, he pulled Angela up on stage with him.

"I want you all to meet someone very special to me," Billy announced with his arm around Angela. "This beautiful woman is my daughter, Angela. Angie's going to sing a few songs with me."

Tempe was surprised, but she soon found herself enjoying the show that father and daughter were putting on. She did notice some guys paying attention to Angela while they were in the club, but she didn't think much of it. Her best friend was a beautiful woman and she wasn't surprised to see guys staring at her. 

The three guys at the table next to hers couldn't seem to take their eyes off of Angela when she was on the stage. Tempe watched them every so often, not able to hide a smile at their open adoration of her friend. When Angela came down off of the stage, one of the young men bought her a drink. They talked for a little while and then Angela came back to her and Tempe's table.

"Looks like you have some new admirers," Tempe pointed out to her with a grin.

Angela shook her head. "They're just kids, but sweet. They have stars in their eyes about being able to talk with the daughter of someone famous."

They say that hindsight is always 20/20. Dr. Temperance Brennan had never believed that phrase before. As she watched the young men leave later that night, she shook her head at their blatant stares in the direction of her friend.

*** 

Everything went wrong outside of a club in a town called Wilcox in south eastern Arizona.

Angela had gotten them checked into their hotel and called her friend, Dhani, to let her know that they were back in the area. Dhani got the address of the place they were staying and they arranged a time to meet up and go out for dinner. They had decided to go dancing and they were all having a wonderful time. The music was good and the atmosphere was enjoyable. All three of them were having fun.

On the way out of the building, they were trying to decide where to go next when a van appeared between them and their jeep. None of the three women recognized the van and they started to go around it. The side door slid open and a person in a black ski mask reached out and grabbed Angela, pulling her into the van. It then sped off before Tempe and Dhani could react. 

"Angie!" Dhani yelled, starting to follow the van. "Angie!"

"Angela!"

Tempe grabbed Dhani and ran to the jeep. "Come on!"

After starting it up, she threw it in gear and started chasing the van. As they raced through the small city, Tempe could feel dread curling deep in her stomach.

_Angela. They had taken Angela._

This wasn't happening again. She was doing her best to focus on the streets they were racing through, but the thought kept coming back to her. She couldn't do this again. She had just lost Zack, there was no way she could handle it if she lost Angela, too. It would be harder this time, that much she knew. Zack had been her colleague, her student, and yes, a friend. Zack had been all of those things and Angela...

_Angela was more._

She was her best friend. She was that spark of unmanageable light that kept her smiling and kept her from always getting too wrapped up in her own corner of the world. She was the one that always knew how to cheer her up or distract her even when she herself didn't think she needed it. She was the one who would come up with all kinds of ideas to keep her attached with the rest of the world around her.

Like this road trip. The trip had been Angela's idea because she wanted to cheer her up after everything that had happened. Once again, Angela had been doing something for her -- and this is what happened. She tried to fight down the guilt, but in her mind, the simple fact of the matter was that Angela had been trying to cheer hert up and had been kidnapped because of it.

"No," she said as she continued following the van, trying to keep up with it through Wilcox's back streets and those streets that weren't really streets at all. They would get Angela back. She was _not_ losing anyone else.

After twenty minutes, she had to admit defeat. The van was gone and she had no idea where to begin searching for it.

"We need help," Dhani said, taking out her phone and dialing her brother.

"I agree. We need someone who is the best at finding missing people." Tempe's face was set in determination as she turned the jeep around and headed to their hotel..

***

When the cell phone started ringing at 4 a.m., FBI Agent Seeley Booth was not the happiest person. When he saw the caller ID flash, he groaned, but flipped open the phone anyway.

“Bones, we have got to teach you the concept of time zones.”

“Booth.”

That was the only thing she said at first, but the tone of her voice caused him to sit up, all symptoms of sleep draining away. “Bones? What’s wrong? Are you all right?” Booth was already getting out of bed and pulling on his pants.

“It’s Angela.” In that moment, he understood the tone of his partner’s voice. Angela was her best friend and if something happened to her, he didn’t like to think about it would do to Brennan.

“Talk to me, Bones, what’s going on?”

“I need your help, Booth. It’s really important.”

There was an odd catch in her voice and his hand tightened on the phone. That was not helping his unease at all. He had worked with her long enough to be able to tell when she was fighting to keep complete control over herself. Something had happened on her trip, and it wasn’t good.

“Of course I’ll help. What happened, Bones? What do you need?”

“I need you, Booth,” she repeated. “I need the best. Someone took her. Angela’s been kidnapped. We were coming out of this club and a black van pulled up and someone grabbed her.”

Booth took a deep breath as he started gathering things together. _Angela was missing._ He liked Angela and understood how important she was to his partner. And damn it, she – and everyone at the Forensics lab in the Jeffersonian – had been through too much lately. He wasn’t about to let them… let _her_ lose anyone else.

“Where are you, Bones? I’ll be on the flight out there. Just tell me where you are and we’ll go from there.”

“Wilcox, Arizona. We had met up with Dhani and the three of us were coming out of a club, it was a night club, when they just grabbed her and sped off. We tried to follow them, but the roads out here are insane. We lost them.”

He nodded, making notes in his head. “All right, Bones, listen to me. I will be on the next flight out there. You do what you do best, and I’ll do what I do best. We’ll find her and she’ll be okay. I promise you that.”

He could almost hear the logic that ruled her arguing with that. “You can’t make that promise, Booth.” 

“Yes, I can, Bones. This is me you’re talking to and I do not make promises I can’t keep. We will find Angela and get her back safely. You got that?”

There was silence on the other end of the line and then he heard her let out a breath. “I got it, Booth. Do me a favor and don’t tell Hodgins or the others about this, yet. I don’t want them worried or upset unnecessarily right now.” 

“Go do what you do, Bones. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Thanks, Booth. I’ll see you when you get here.”

After she hung up, Booth dropped his phone on the bed and went to get his duffel bag – as well as his gun case. He could feel a cold anger seeping into him as he packed for a trip out West. It was a feeling that he usually didn’t like, but right now he welcomed it.

It wasn’t just that one of his friends had been kidnapped – and Angela _was_ a friend. He liked Angela and had been able to see why her and Bones’ friendship was such a good one. She was a good person and she had a lot of heart. She cared about everyone around her and made sure they knew it.

What made all of this worse – what made him even angrier – was that someone had done something to hurt Bones. He was getting really damned tired of things happening to her and her getting hurt. Hadn’t she been through enough lately?

He finished packing everything he thought he might need out there and then placed a few calls. Afterwards, he ran a hand through his hair. Bones had told him not to tell any of the others that something had happened to Angela… but after everything that had happened, he just couldn’t honor that request. After them thinking he was dead and then finding out that Zack had betrayed them all, he just couldn’t keep Angela’s kidnapping a secret from them. It wasn’t fair to put them through anything else, but his conscience wouldn’t allow them not to know what was going on.

Bones would be annoyed with him, but there was no way he couldn’t tell them. He grabbed his bags and headed out the door. He had a stop to make on the way to the airport.

It was easier to get forgiveness than permission, and he hoped that Bones would understand why he had to let them know what was going on.

***

When Booth got to the Jeffersonian, he hadn’t been surprised to see that Hodgins was there at 5 in the morning. He had known there had been a lot of cases coming in, but mostly, he had understood the other man’s need to keep busy after what had happened with Zack. He had been surprised to see Cam, but relieved, because it meant he only had to tell the story once.

“Dr. Brennan said someone kidnapped Angela?” Camille repeated. “But, why would anyone do that?”

“We don’t know, which is why she called me.”

“Did anyone call her father?” Hodgins asked.

“Not as far as I know. I think Bones only called me and then she was going to do her forensics stuff at the crime scene and try to get information until I got there.”

“Then don’t.” Hodgins shook his head. “It’s probably a bad idea to call Billy right now,” he said quietly. “I don’t think he would act very rationally to the idea of Angela being in trouble. He’s very protective of his little girl.” He looked at Booth calmly. “I’m pretty sure that he might not wait for the FBI if anyone tells him right now.”

Cam looked surprised. “But her Dad seems like such a sweet and easy-going man.”

“For the most part, he is. But, when it comes to his only daughter, he’s protective. When I went to ask him for permission to marry Ang, he first warned me that if Ang found out that I had asked him for any of her parts, we could both wind up dead. Then, as I was leaving, he told me that he had guitars, he had cars, and he had guns. As long as I treated her right, I would only ever see the business ends of the cars and the guitars.”

Cam nodded. “I see.”

“Right. So for right now, we don’t tell Angela’s father that his little girl is missing. I can live with that.”

“Especially since once we get Angela back, you don’t want to have to explain to her and Dr. Brennan that you arrested her father,” Cam pointed out with a small smile.

“Yeah, I’d kind of like to avoid being forced to arrest any more of this group’s parents.” Booth said. “Somehow, I don’t think Angela would be as compartmentalized about it as Bones was.”

"Not a chance in hell." Cam said with a knowing smile.

Booth nodded. "So, you'll be here examining any evidence we send back and letting us know what we can do to track these bastards down and get her back."

"Cam will. I'm going with you."

Booth looked at him. It was the first thing that Hodgins had said since he had pulled both him and Cam into her office. While he had told them about the phone call from Bones, Hodgins’ face hadn’t changed expression. He shook his head and told them about Billy's threat before he married Angela.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Cam's voice was calm as she looked at Hodgins.

“I am. Someone took Angela, and I’m going to be there to make sure they’re caught and punished and that she’s returned to us safely.”

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Hodgins," Booth found himself saying. "We don't know who we're dealing with or what their motives are."

"I don't care about any of that!" Hodgins slammed his hand down on the table. "Angela is my fiancee and the love of my life. She's out there somewhere away from everyone that loves her and dealing with god knows what! I am not staying here in the lab waiting for evidence and particulates to trickle in. I need to be out there helping and be there when we get her back. I’m going with you.”

Booth looked at Cam for a very long time and then at Hodgins. "What if I say that I'm not taking you with me?"

"Then I'll say I'll be seeing you out there."

Booth recognized the look in Hodgins' eyes. It was the same look in his own eyes when Bones was missing and buried alive by the Gravedigger. He sighed and then nodded. "How quickly can you pack?"

"Very quickly," Hodgins said heading out of the office. "I'll meet you back here in twenty to thirty minutes."

Booth watched him go and then looked at Cam. "The whole team will be gone, except you."

"I'll be fine and you'll need me here." She gave him a look. "Find her, Seeley. Find her and you catch the damn bastards who took. Between you and me? I'm getting damn tired of people messing with my team, and it needs to stop." She sighed, looking tired. "I don't know what it would do to everyone if we lost Angela."

"We are not going to lose her, Camille. You hear me? We are not going to lose her." His voice was hard. "We'll find her, rescue her and bring her back home. There's no other acceptable outcome."

"How did she sound?"

"Bones?"

"Well, it wasn't Angela who called you to say she had been kidnapped and needed your help."

He sighed, shaking his head. "She sounded like Bones sounds when she's really upset but trying to keep everything under control. So... not good."

"Damn it. Is it too much to ask that we all just get a break from anything bad happening once in awhile?"

"Once in awhile... or right now? I get that there is still a lot of hurt and messed up emotions after everything that has happened with Zack, and there probably will be for a long time."

"A breather would be nice." She said with a hint of anger in her voice. "These are good people. We're a good team and I am sick of people screwing with us."

Booth nodded. "I agree and it's going to stop." He squeezed her hand. "I'm going to go get Hodgins and get on a plane to Arizona. We'll be back soon, Camille. All of us."

"Don't call me Camille."

"Don't call me Seeley."

It was an old joke and it was a bit of normalcy right now that both of them appreciated. Booth gave her a small smile and nodded. "We'll be back soon," he repeated.

"Good." She waited until he was walking away before speaking again. "Oh, and Booth?"

"Yeah?"

"You should tell her."

"Tell her what?"

"Don't be an ass, Seeley."

He waved his hand at her as he continued out the doors of the forensics lab. Once he was gone, Cam sat in the chair behind her desk and looked up at the ceiling.

"God, please keep her safe," she prayed softly. "Keep her safe and let them find her. I try not to ask you for too much, but I'm asking for this. We need each other safe and sound, and we need Angela. Please, I'm begging you, keep her safe and alive and let Seeley Booth find her. We've been through so much and we need something good to happen for us. Please, God. Please. We need each other and I need your help to make sure that happens."

***

Tempe had changed clothes and headed right out to the crime scene, where Dhani and Sheriff Ben Dawes were waiting for her.

"We haven't touched anything, Dr. Brennan," Ben reassured her. "We were waiting for you." He took off his hat. "It's nice to see you again, ma'am. I only wish that it was under better circumstances."

She managed to give Ben a smile. "Nice to see you again, Sheriff Dawes."

"Call me Ben. Angie's a good woman and a dear friend. We've been through too much to use titles."

"Call me Brennan." She said, looking at him and Dhani. "Did Dhani fill you in on what happened?"

Dhani nodded. "There wasn't much to give him. I told him that a black van drove up and grabbed Angie, and that we tried to follow them, but the roads got us turned around."

"I brought some supplies to make casts of the van tire treads. We can send that back to the Jeffersonian and they can run them through the computers to see if these guys have done anything like this before."

"You think they'll be in the federal data base?" Ben asked.

"I don't know yet," she said quietly, focusing on the tire treads she was walking along yet. "I'm not someone that makes a lot of leaps of conjecture or jump to conclusions. I have to go with what the evidence tells me."

"We'll find her, Dr. Brennan," Dhani said as she walked around the area, careful not to step on anything that could be used as evidence in their search for the kidnappers and Angela. She carefully noted a few things in her mind as she walked. She was not a forensics genius like Brennan, but she was a gifted tracker in her own right -- and she knew how to read nature. They would get Angie back and she would love to get a few hits in on the assholes who took her in the first place.

***

Angela didn't know where she was or how long she had been here. She was trying to remember things so that she could help Brennan and Booth gather evidence and track the kidnappers. She had no doubt that as soon as she had been taken Brennan had called Booth – it was the logical thing to do.

She had been in such a good mood, walking out of the club with Brennan and Dhani. She hadn't had any clue that anything was wrong. They were all laughing and she and Dhani were wobbling a little from the shots of tequila they had done together. It was exactly what they had all needed – and it was fun.

They were making plans about what they should do next when the van had driven up behind them. Before she could react, she was grabbed from behind and pulled into the van. A cloth was shoved over her nose and mouth and held there. She tried not to breathe, because she recognized the familiar smell on the cloth, but then it was shoved harder against her face and a few moments later she passed out.

When she woke up, she was in complete darkness. Her first panicked thought had been that the creepy Gravedigger had shown up again and grabbed her this time. However, when she discovered that she was bound, gagged and blindfolded, she realized that she probably wasn't buried alive. Tying up his victims was not in the Gravedigger's modus operandi. She started to carefully move her hands and tried to test the give in the restraints. 

In spite of her fear, Angela tried to clear her mind and listen, gathering as many clues as she could that would help her figure out who these guys were and why they had grabbed her. She was _not_ going to be one of those kidnapping victims that couldn't recall anything or didn't have any useful information to help the authorities to solve the crime. After all, she’d been working with Brennan and Booth for the past three or four years. 

It felt like some kind of rope was being used to tie her hands and arms together, and she could only deduce that the same thing was being used to bind her legs. She began to struggle; the rough fibers rubbing her wrists and confirming her belief that she was bound with rope. She bit the inside of her cheek and tears formed in her eyes from the pain she was causing as she struggled, not caring about the rope burns she was certain to have; all that mattered was getting free.

At some point, the van stopped moving and she stopped struggling in the bindings. She heard the side door slide open with a groan; that told her that the van she was being held in was older and not in the best condition. Someone grabbed her arms and started pulling her towards what she thought was the door. When she felt herself being lifted through the air, she grit her teeth and tried to keep her reactions under control. She was lifted up and slung over someone’s, and that was when she reacted. She lifted her legs up and then slammed them into whatever part of his body they could connect with. He dropped her with a cry, and she yelped in pain when she landed on her shoulder. That was going to hurt so much later. Trying to think, she started struggling in her bonds, fighting to get her hands free so she could at least pull her blindfold off. She hated not being able to see – it was a worse feeling than anything else that was going on.

She heard angry voices and right as she thought she was about to get her hands free, something came down on the back of her head, sending her back into unconsciousness again.

***

She looked up from the casts she was making as she heard the new vehicle arrive in the parking lot of the club. Sheriff Ben was about to have the county officers block its way, but Brennan waved him off when she recognized the occupants of the Navigator.

"It's all right," she said, even though she was frowning. "It's Booth and Hodgins."

"Angie's fiance?" Dhani asked. "I thought we weren't telling him about this yet."

"So did I," Brennan muttered as she started walking towards the vehicle. Dhani and Ben followed her closely.

Booth was the first one to reach her and he hugged her tightly. "Are you all right?"

Brennan squeezed him back, letting herself relax slightly at the safety that his hug had always signified for her. "I'm fine. It was Angela that they took. We found some tracks from the van and I'm making casts of them to send back to the Jeffersonian." Her voice caught. "If anything happens to her Booth --"

"Nothing will happen to her, Bones. That is not even an option." He pulled back to look down into her face. "I'm here. You're here. Hodgins is here. Nothing and no one is going to get in the way of us finding her and getting her back to us safely, okay? It's not even a possibility." He could see the start of tears in her eyes, but knew that she would never let them fall at this point in time. Right now, she had to make herself be strong so she could do her job and he would do his best to give her that ability.

"I'm scared, Booth," she whispered. "I don't like being worried and my friends aren't supposed to be in danger. She must be so terrified right now. She acts tough, but she's really sensitive and I don't like that she's scared and not knowing what's going on. Criminals are not allowed to hurt my friends."

"When we find the guys that took Angela, you can hit them if you want. I know that will make you feel better. "

"How do you think Sweets would react to you encouraging me to get violent on the kidnappers?"

"Sweets isn't here and if he finds out and gets whiny about it later, we'll give him a pacifier and a lollipop to keep him occupied." In Booth's opinion, Sweets could psychoanalyze and patronize how he been wrong in encouraging Brennan to deal with her fear and trauma after Sweets had his own best friend had been kidnapped from right in front of him on a vacation. Until then, he could keep his opinions about it to himself or risk having Booth hit him, himself.

"You told Hodgins."

"I had to, Bones."

"But I asked you not to. There was no reason to upset him like this."

"Angela is his fiancee and the love of his life. He deserved to know." He looked at her. "I would have wanted to know if it was you."

"That's because we're partners."

"So are Angela and Hodgins." He shook his head. "Besides, Bones, with everything that has happened lately, there was no way I could keep that information away from him." He looked into her face again. "I didn't want him to find out later that Angela had been in danger and he hadn't known anything about it. He would have felt betrayed and hurt if we had kept any of this from him. There's been enough secrets and betrayal for a long time, don't you agree?"

Hodgins took that moment to come up to Brennan and Booth.

"Dr. Brennan, what happened?”

Tempe took a deep breath and turned from Booth to look at Hodgins. "Last night, we were coming out of this club we had been at. We left the club and were walking to the car. Dhani and Angela were talking about ideas of what we should do next. Before we reached our vehicle, a black van drove up to us. The door opened and someone grabbed Angela. The van took off before they had even finished closing the door." 

"Dr. Brennan and I got into the jeep and tried to follow them," Dhani inserted. "The roads in Wilcox are a little bit like a crazy puzzle and we lost the van before we could catch up to them. We searched for hours before giving up and going back to the hotel." She ran a hand through her hair. "Dr. Brennan called Agent Booth and I called my brother." She gestured to Ben. "Sheriff Ben Dawes."

"I came out here as soon as she called," Ben said. "Angie has been a good friend of ours for many years and I wasn't about to just sit back and not do anything when Dhani told me she had been taken."

"What has been done so far?" Hodgins's blue eyes were hard as he looked around.

"Casts of the tire tracks, Sheriff Dawes called in a search party who are going to be looking from the air for the black van. We have a basic idea of the direction they were heading last night, but that's not a sure thing."

"It's a start," Booth said, snapping into detective mode. "If she's held in one of the outlying desert areas --"

"If I have a place to start, I can track them," Dhani said.

"You can track her?" Hodgins demanded. "How?"

"Dhani knows the desert better than anyone, Dr. Hodgins," Sheriff Dawes said. "If we get a basic idea of where Angie is being held, Dhani can get us some more information."

Booth looked at Brennan. "Bones, does Angela have a cellphone on her at all? Like in her purse or something?"

"I think so. She was talking about sending a text message to Hodgins."

"Then we can get a lock on her location if they haven't found the phone and disposed of it."

***

She wasn't sure how much time had passed before she woke up again. She must have been unconscious for awhile because she could hear her kidnappers arguing about her and the fact that she had been unconscious for so long.

"You idiot! You could have killed her. Did you have to hit her so damn hard?" The first man's voice was full of anger.

"She was getting away!" The second man sounded defensive.

"How do you figure that? She was trying to crawl away on her stomach and she was bound and gagged very thoroughly. Where was she going to go, into a very large snake hole?" That was a third voice. His voice was a little deeper than the other two.

"If anything happens to her, we'll never get what we want, damn it. He'll never give us our jobs back, nor will he listen to us at all! You saw how protective of her he is. Angela is his treasure." That was the first man again. 

Angela was silent, trying to figure out who these guys were. They knew who she was, but so far she had no idea who these guys were or why they had kidnapped her. She tried to move, but pain shot through her head.

"We have to be careful and treat her gently or else he's going to kill us when he finds out we're the ones that have taken her." There was the sound of a chair being moved along the floor. "He's going to be pissed off enough when he sees the wounds on her arms and legs from the ropes, not to mention the concussion I'm sure you gave her when you hit her --- and where in the hell did you get a gun in the fist place?"

"It's not loaded, I don't even have any ammunition for it. It was in one of the speakers we last moved."

"You stole a gun from Billy?! Are you out of your mind?"

"Let me see if I have this straight. Not only did we kidnap his daughter... but you stole one of his guns, as well?!"

Angela bit hard on the gag to keep from making a sound and letting her captors know she was awake again. These guys had kidnapped her to try to get her dad to give in to their demands about something? If she hadn't been tied up, she would have thrown something -- or done something to try and hurt them. Did they have any idea how much trouble they were going to be in? She honestly hoped that Brennan and Booth found them before her father did. Billy would _kill_ them for this. She tugged on the ropes at her wrists again, biting her lip when they rubbed the already raw wounds. These guys weren't professional kidnappers, but they had already proven that they were capable of violence. She had to get out of here before one of them hurt her even worse -- even by accident.

_Brennan, come on. I'm counting on you and Booth to find me._

***

It had been three days since Angela was kidnapped and they had yet to hear from the kidnappers. This was bothering the group a great deal because they had no idea what these people wanted. Tempers were starting to fray and Tempe didn't know how much longer she could keep her own from snapping.

"Got it!" Booth suddenly yelled from the main room of the hotel suite they had set up office in. He flipped his cell phone closed and looked at them all in triumph as he walked in. "That was the Tucson branch office. They finally got a trace on a cell tower about fifty miles Southeast of Tucson. It seems our band of kidnappers are hiding in a place called Chiricahua or something like that."

Dhani looked at Ben and concern flashed in both of their eyes.

"Chiricahua? Are you certain of that?" Ben asked in a low voice.

"That's what the agent said."

"Why?" Hodgins demanded. "What's wrong?" He hadn't missed the look between Dhani and her brother and it worried him.

"Chiricahua National Park has been notorious for people using it as a dumping ground," Ben replied reluctantly. "If that's where they've taken Angie... there's no telling what they could be planning to do because it's hard to get into some of those places. The mountains are hard to travel."

Dhani shook her head. "They can't. We won't allow it." Her eyes darkened. "I am not going to lose my friend to the scavengers out in that desert."

"Do you have any ideas on the best way of getting in there and getting Angela back?" Tempe's voice was full of tension that brought Booth immediately to her side.

Dhani nodded. "I'll place some calls to some of the People living out there. They'll start the search for us until we get there."

"Can we trust them?"

"One of them that's going to be helping us will be my Uncle," Dhani responded. "He's Chiricahua Apache -- grew up in those mountains -- and he helped to teach me everything I know about tracking and survival in the desert. If anyone can help us find Angie in that place, my Uncle and his men can."

"Then let's get going," Tempe said, grabbing a bag and heading for the door. "We have no idea how much time Angela has left."

*** 

Angela wasn’t sure how much time she had left with these guys, either. They had still not told her what was going on, and listening to them fight amongst themselves wasn’t making her feel any better about her chances of getting out of this anytime soon.

“Dude, what if you sent her into a coma when you hit her in the head? We have to get her to a hospital and get her checked out.” Angela had started calling him Brain Trust because while he tried to have good ideas, his blundering tended to screw those ideas up. “We need to make sure she’s going to be okay!”

“If you put his only daughter into a coma, Billy is going to do worse than kill us, you know that?!” This one was called Panic because he was always freaking out. “We agreed that we weren’t going to do anything to hurt her! The plan was just to kidnap her and scare them so he’d meet our demands! We weren’t suppose to injure her.”

Of course it should be mentioned that Angela agreed that, in this case, he had reason to panic. Her father really was going to kill these guys when he found out what they had done to her. Well, her father would kill them if Hodgins and Brennan didn’t get to them first. Knowing her fiancé and her best friend as she did, she had a very strong feeling that those two and Booth were somewhere nearby, trying to figure out the best way to retrieve her without getting her hurt in any of the crossfire.

 _They probably think these guys are fierce and have an arsenal of guns. They have no way of knowing that the guys who kidnapped me are bumbling twenty-somethings who want their job with my Dad back._ Angela sighed inwardly, wishing she had a way of getting information to Hodgins or Tempe. Having comic book telepath powers would really come in handy right about now.

After listening to these guys for however long she had been held here, she could see why her father had fired them. They were stupid. No, they were beyond stupid. Not only were they bumbling idiots – in her own opinion – but they had also thought that by kidnapping her, they could force her dad to hire them back. She sighed inwardly. Only imbeciles would think kidnapping someone’s daughter would get them anything but hurt. These guys actually thought he’d hire them back if they used her as a bargaining chip.

“Dude, she’s not in a coma. She’s still breathing and she moves around on her own.” And this one was called Mr. Idiot. He sounded a little older than the others, but no less ignorant. “If she was in a coma, she wouldn’t be breathing and we’d have to get her hooked up to machines immediately.” He muttered something. “Remember, morons, we’ve fed her and she’s been drinking. She’s not in a coma. Comatose patients do not eat or drink. She’s just been sleeping a lot. He probably gave her a concussion and we should start a routine schedule of moving her around to keep her waking up.”

“Maybe we should make her walk around?”

“She’s tied up and blindfolded, moron. I thought we didn’t want her to get hurt.”

 _Oh dear god,_ Angela thought, renewing her struggles. _I have got to get out of here before these guys get me killed by accident or something._

While Brain Trust, Panic and Mr. Idiot argued over her condition and what to do about contacting Billy – they hadn’t yet?! – Angela started working on trying to get that gag out of her mouth. If she had to listen to these guys much longer without being able to talk back, she was going to lose her mind. 

As she worked on the gag, Angela hoped that Brennan was doing all right through all of this. This was supposed to have been a fun and relaxing road trip for two best friends to get away from their jobs and relax a little bit. It was supposed to be bonding time for the two of them – and not turn into another case that they needed to solve. She definitely wasn’t supposed to have ended up being the victim that needed Brennan to solve the mystery.

If she could get herself untied, she was so kicking these guys’ asses for ruining their vacation. There were things Angela Montenegro could forgive easily. Kidnapping her, tying her up, gagging her, worrying Brennan and ruining their vacation were no where on that list.

It should have come as no surprise to her that as soon as she managed to free herself from the gag, something else would go wrong.

She heard the guys yelling, and then she heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired. If that wasn’t bad enough, she could hear the bullet go by her and then heard it slam into the wall near her. Forgetting that she hadn’t planned to let them know immediately that her gag was loose, Angela screamed for all she was worth.

***

On the bluff above the house, five faces lost color when they heard the gunshot, followed by Angela screaming.

Booth brought up his radio. “Shots fired! Shots fired! Agent going in!”

He started down the hill and stopped short when he realized that Bones and Brennan were following him. His face was determined as he looked at them.

“You two, stay here.”

“No way,” Hodgins said. “That’s Angela down there screaming and I’m going in to get her.”

Tempe also shook her head and raised her hand to show them the gun she was holding. “I can help protect her while you get the bad guys.”

“Damn it, Bones. Where did you get that?”

“We’re in Arizona,” she pointed out, as if that should be enough of an answer.

“Can I have a gun?” Hodgins asked.

“No!” Both Booth and Brennan responded to that immediately. 

Hodgins frowned and then started down the hill again, Tempe following right behind him and then coming up beside him.

“They’re going to get themselves killed,” Booth muttered as he hurried to catch up with him. “Fine, but the two of you stay behind me and Bones, don’t shoot anyone.”

“Unless they deserve it.”

“Hodgins…”

Hodgins gave him a dirty look. “Tell you what, Booth, when it’s Dr. Brennan down there screaming like that, then you can tell me how I should react to the woman I love being kidnapped and shot at.” He shook his head. “And don’t give me that tired line about the two of you just being partners. Help me get Angie back, then kiss each other for Christ’s sake. God knows the rest of us are tired of waiting for you two to stop being so damned blind.”

Tempe stopped and stared at Hodgins’ back in shock. For his part, Booth was pretty shocked as well, but he had to snap out of it when he realized a civilian – Hodgins – was heading right into what was a potentially dangerous situation. He could deal with the ramifications of that after this case was over.

“Damn it, Hodgins, wait for us!” When Hodgins didn’t slow down, he bit back a curse and sped up. There was no way he was letting one of them hit the door before he did.

“F.B.I., freeze!” When Booth burst in through the front door, the scene that met him was unexpected.

Angela was bound and blind-folded on the bed, and she screamed again as he knocked open the door. There were three younger guys fighting in the middle of the room and a gun laying on the floor. He could tell that all of the noise was causing Angela to freak out because she couldn’t see what was happening, but before he could say anything, there was another gunshot. Angela screamed again and Booth turned towards her expecting the worst.

What he saw was Bones standing there with her gun pointing at the ceiling. Her face was white, but her eyes were what caused him to lose his momentum for a moment. Her eyes were very wide in her face and she looked like she might cry any moment. Her self-control was starting to break now that they were here and they were getting Angela back. More than anything, he wanted to go and comfort her, let her know that everything was all right now, but he had to deal with the kidnappers first. 

The gunshot had her desired affect as the three fighters froze, and then turned to look at the door – and Booth.

“FBI, freeze,” Booth repeated with a growl in his voice. He was trying to figure how he was going to cuff all three men, until Sheriff Dawes came through the door.

“The Feds?” The first guy said. “Damn it, now we’ll never get Billy to give us our jobs back.”

“Shut up before I shoot you,” he threatened, and he meant it. Hearing Angela scream like that and seeing the effect it had on Bones made him want to hurt somebody. “Hodgins? The coast is clear. Get Angela.”

Hodgins went right to Angela when he saw that Booth and Brennan had the situation under control. His jaw clenched when he saw that she was crying, and he pulled her close to him as he fumbled with the blindfold.

“Ssh, Angie, it’s all right. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”

“Jack?” She blinked against the light when he removed the blindfold. “Jack.”

“Of course it’s me, babe,” he said softly, holding her to him for a moment. He kissed her forehead, hating to see her tears and how scared she had been. He started trying to get her untied and had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep his temper when he saw how the ropes had rubbed and chafed her skin.

“She’s bleeding,” Tempe said when she came over to help with the ropes. “Angela, were you shot?”

She shook her head. “No, sweetie. The bleeding is probably from me struggling with the ropes and trying to get out of them.” She swallowed, running a hand through her hair and grimacing. "Black cocktail dresses do not protect one from rope burns."

Tempe pulled on a glove and gathered up the gun and the ropes to put into plastic bags for evidence, while Dhani held open a first aid kit so Hodgins could start taking care of Angela’s wounds.

“Dude, we weren’t going to hurt her,” one of the guys said.

“Yeah, then what was the gun for?” Booth demanded as he and Dawes finished cuffing all three of the kidnappers.

“It was just for show,” a second one protested.

“The gunshot we heard from outside was not just for show,” Tempe snapped, putting her own gun away now that the danger was passed. “Shooting at Angela was not just for show.”

“I didn’t mean to shoot at her. The gun wasn’t supposed to be loaded.”

“But it was perfectly all right for you to hit me in the back of the head with it when I was trying to crawl away!” Angela’s voice was full of anger.

“They hit you in the head?” Hodgins demanded in disbelief and Booth had the feeling that if he hadn’t been here and the guys hadn’t been cuffed, Hodgins would have hurt them.

“They did.”

“They never made a ransom demand,” Tempe pointed out. “If you weren’t going to hurt her, why didn’t you contact us for ransom?”

“I can answer that,” Angela said, leaning against Hodgins. “They used to work for my dad and he fired them for being screw-ups. They thought that by kidnapping me they could force my dad to hire them back.” Her voice was a little shaky as she looked at Tempe. “They were at the Coyote Club and saw me singing with my dad.”

Tempe and Booth looked at each other and then at the kidnappers.

“You were going to try to get her father to give you back your jobs by telling him that you had kidnapped and terrorized his only daughter?” Anger was seeping into Booth’s voice as he spoke. “I could shoot you where you stand.”

“He really wants to,” Tempe said helpfully. “He has a son of his own. He doesn’t like the idea of parents being manipulated or blackmailed because some low life is using their children as pawns.” 

“Maybe we should turn them over to Billy and let him deal with them – after we tell him what they were trying to do,” Hodgins suggested as he finished bandaging Angela’s arms and legs.

“You can’t!” One of them squeaked. “That’s illegal.”

“He’ll kill us for sure.” The second one added.

Tempe looked at them. “What did you think he was going to do to you when you showed up somewhere and told him you had his daughter tied up, blind-folded and scared just so you could get your jobs back?” She looked at Booth. “I really, really want to hit them.”

He nodded. “I know, but for now, let’s get Angela to a hospital to get checked out and get these guys thrown into jail.”

A few hours later, Angela had been admitted to University Medical Center in Tucson. She hadn't wanted to stay, but when her friends had heard what the doctor said, they had insisted upon it. Booth stepped outside the room with the doctor to discuss the guard he wanted on the door. They weren’t taking any chances.

"One of us will be with you at all times, Ang," Tempe told her, and Angela had to fight back tears. It was exactly what she had said to Zack after the explosion when he was in the hospital.

Hodgins sat on the edge of the bed beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. He had seen the look on her face and knew what she was thinking about. "It's alright, Angela. You're safe and there are no sudden surprises waiting to be sprung on us." He stroked her hair back from her face. “It won’t be like when we were at the hospital with Zack.”

She leaned her head against him and looked at Tempe. "Has someone called Cam?"

"Booth called her... and he called your father, too." She sat in the chair next to the bed. "He's flying in tonight." She took Angela's hand and held onto it for a moment. "Do you remember anything?"

"I remember being grabbed and a cloth was shoved up against my nose and mouth. I fought against it because I knew what I smelled from it, but he was too strong." She swallowed. "I don't know how long I was unconscious the first time, but when I woke up I was tied up and blind-folded." Now that she was safe, the fear from that moment cause her to tremble slightly. "I tried to pay as close attention to everything, so I could get as many clues as possible, but it was very disorienting."

Tempe nodded. "What happened to your shoulder?"

"One of them slung me over his shoulder, and I kicked him as hard as I could. He dropped me on my shoulder.”

"The doctor said you were lucky you didn't break it." She looked at Angela and there were tears in her eyes. "We chased the van, Ang. As soon as they took off, we tried to catch them."

"Hey, sweetie," Angela leaned forward and hugged her. "I have no doubt that you did. Just like I knew that you would call Booth to help find me. You're my best friend, and I've worked with you for almost four years. I know how you think. You would have driven yourself into the ground until I was found."

Tempe hugged her for a few moments. "I don't know what I would have done --"

"There's no reason to think about that now. You guys found me and I'm safe." She shrugged. "Hospitalized, but safe." She pulled back. "Now, if I remember correctly, you have an FBI agent to go kiss."

"Angela --"

"No, Brennan. You are not using me as an excuse to hide from how you feel about him. It's obvious to all of us that you two have feelings for each other. Go, sweetie. Take a chance on something good for you." Angela smiled, pulling back and leaning against Hodgins again. "I have my knight, now go find yours."

Tempe looked unsure for a moment, and Hodgins gestured to the door. "Dr. Brennan, you owe it to yourself to seize this chance with both hands." He smiled. "Go on. I'll be here with her."

She gave an uncertain smile, then turned and left the hospital room.

"You think she'll tell him?" Hodgins asked her, pulling her back to a reclining position.

"I hope so. She deserves it, so does he."

He stroked her hair. "And you deserve some rest."

"I'm afraid to close my eyes, Jack," she said softly.

"I'll be right here, Angela. Nothing is going to harm you. Just get some rest." He held her as close as he could without hurting her injuries. "I will always be here to watch over you."

"I love you, Jack," she said softly.

"I love you, Angela." His voice was husky. He kissed her and then held her while she fell asleep.


End file.
